Take a closer look at The Planet Of The Apes from 1968. A film that posed a number of philosophical, sociopolitical and culturally relevant questions in an allegorical science fiction epic that spanned several sequels, television series, animated programs, and present day reboots.
Consider the year in which The Planet Of The Apes was released, 1968. The turbulent years of the seventies were just about to hit while the civil rights movements were in full swing (as evidenced by the riots in Detroit). Here comes this movie, based on Pierre Boulle’s 1964 novel where astronaut/journalist Ulysse (anyone familiar with Greek mythology should be rolling their eyes) lands on a planet inhabited by apes who have comparable technological advances. It was the film’s screenwriters and producers who felt compelled to set the ape civilization in a more primitive, shantytown environment and integrate relevant issues of the times.
Seth MacFarlane has been quite the busy bee as of late. Not only is he working on A Million Ways to Die in the West (coming May 30th 2014…hopefully) and executive producing the return of Cosmos, he also has another movie in the works. He confirmed on Twitter recently that he has an idea of the release date for the sequel to his hit raunchy comedy Ted. Collider had this quote from Seth who said:
Don’t call it a comeback reboot. Even though Michael Bay has said that the next incarnation of Transformers will not be a reboot, but rather a continuation, it’s looking quite a bit like a reboot. The only thing listed in the “not a reboot” column is apparently they are not restarting the story, rather they are just advancing ahead in the future four years after the end of Dark of the Moon. Everything else? Up for grabs.
[tabgroup][tab title=” Gangster Squad “] Inspired by a true story from the 1940s and 50s, Gangster Squad is about the Los Angeles Police Department putting together a small squad of policemen tasked with the goal of keeping East Coast mobs out of their city’s streets.
The cast list is impressive, including the acting veteran Sean Penn and the recent favorites Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. With a setting and tone much like the video game L.A. Noir, we’re excited to see how this one turns out.
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, and Sean Penn
Release Date: January 11, 2013
[/tab][tab title=” The Lone Ranger “]
Tonto and John Reid go back a long way… like to the 1940s. And now they’re making a comeback in Walt Disney’s version of their story with a new twist – Tonto is going to recount the American Old West adventures that made John Reid into the fighting-for-justice legend we all know him to be [SuperHeroHype].
With a winning combination of Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer (they made the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films), we’re expecting lots of humorous adventures, entertaining fight sequences, and interesting lore. Also, Johnny Depp’s crow headpiece is pretty wicked.
Director: Gore Verbinski
Stars: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Tom Wilkinson, William Fichtner, Ruth Wilson, and Helena Bonham Carter
Release Date: July 3, 2013
[/tab][tab title=” Broken City”]
New York City’s mayor appears to have done well for the city since he was elected, but he has one personal problem: his wife is sleeping around. So the mayor hires an ex-cop to track down the man she’s cheating with. However, the situation escalates when the ex-cop finds out that there’s more to the mayor’s situation (and his political games) than he’s letting on.
Audiences will undoubtedly be tired of politics by the time this film comes out, but maybe Marky Mark’s ambition to take down a conniving politician will be just what some Americans want at that point.
Director: Allen Huges
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Release Date: January 18, 2013
[/tab][tab title=”The Dark Knight Returns: Part 2″] After several years out of the spotlight, Bruce Wayne becomes Batman again, this time as a middle-aged man still ready to take on the new criminals that have arisen in Gotham City. But this time Batman’s being called a murderer, and a warrant is out for his arrest. Superman claims he must follow the law and find Batman, but will he?
The story is nothing new, as superheroes have been called vigilantes and murderers before, and there have been show-downs between Batman and Superman in the past, but judging from the trailer we’re guessing DC Comics isn’t going to drop the ball on this one, especially if Part One was any indication of how good the finale will be.
Director: Jay Oliva
Stars: Peter Weller, Michael McKean, Wade Williams, Ariel Winter, David Selby, and Gary Anthony Williams
Release Date: Winter 2013
[/tab] [tab title=”Movie 43″]
The most we can say about this movie is that it’s a comedy featuring a large, all-star cast that will be “intertwining different tales” [IMDb]. It was also going to be called Red Band at one point. If you’ve seen Love Actually or Valentine’s Day, it’s supposedly something like that, but with a far more adult approach, in all aspects of the word.
Director: PatrikForsberg, Peter Farrelly, Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, and several more…
Stars: Chloe Grace Moretz, Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Kate Winslet, Anna Faris, Richard Gere, Naomi Watts, Halle Berry, Jason Sudeikis, Chris Pratt, and many more…
Release Date: January 25, 2013
In one of the more surprising stories this week, it’s being reported that the much-anticipated sequel to 2009’s GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra is being pushed back a whole nine months to March 29th of next year so 3D can be added. In other words, they’re moving it back a few months so they can make more money with a spring release. In fact, Paramount Execs are so upfront about said money-making, that one of them released a statement saying, “We’re going to do a conscientious 3D job because we’ve seen how it can better box office internationally.” I rest my case. [Ed. – It’s better than pushing it back for ‘reshoots’, which is almost always a sign of a shit movie…]
Chances are if you are a 20-something fun individual you have at one point or another enjoyed a good session of Family Guy. If you know Family Guy then I would wager your favorite characters are either Peter, Brian, or Stewie. So you will probably be pretty excited to hear that Seth MacFarlane’s new film Ted finally has a trailer out, which is Red band. That means NSFW, people. Ted stars Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis (shut up, Meg) and of course, Seth MacFarlane as the voice of Ted.
I’m man enough to admit that I love the “one last job” genre. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this genre you either don’t watch a lot of movies, or don’t pay attention to the movies you watch. A “one last job” movie involves a retired or aging criminal who has to do one more job to get himself out of the game forever and back to his family or his money or what/whoever he wants to be with. One of the most recent, and best, examples of the “one last job” genre that comes to mind is the Christopher Nolan, no pun intended, mindbender, Inception.
What is it about having to do one last job that makes a movie so damn exciting? Well, the stakes are almost always higher, and the payoff is always bigger. Whether it be millions of dollars, or the chance to be an actual citizen of the free world, sometimes all it takes is that one job to, well, get the job done. In the new action vehicle for Mark Wahlberg, Contraband, he plays a legitimate ex-con who now has a job installing alarm systems. That, my friends, is called action movie irony. Get used to it because it doesn’t get much better than that.
Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, one of the best smugglers anyone knows. He did what he had to after he and his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), had their two sons, Michael (Connor Hill), and Eddie (Bryce McDaniel). Kate’s brother, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), has been going against Chris’ good word and doing runs, despite his brother-in-law’s advice to get out of the game while he could. Now, Andy has gotten himself into some deep doo-doo, dumping a bag of drugs that belonged to a local criminal, Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi).
The only way that Andy can get off the hook is if Chris helps him out with this one last job to get him out for good. Calling in a couple of favors, including a reliable counterfeiter from Panama, Chris reluctantly agrees, enlisting the help of some old partners including his right hand man, Sebastian (Ben Foster), and newlywed Danny Raymer (Lukas Haas) to get the money for the drugs from Panama, and back to Briggs in two weeks.
Contraband is definitely not the best action movie you’re going to see this year, maybe not even this season, but for a January release, the month which is notorious for its bad films, it could be a lot worse, and the excellent performances by the cast, especially Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi, elevate the film from run-in-the-mill, to, marginally above average. There’s also a pretty cool cameo by Diego Luna, which contains the most action packed sequence in the entire movie.
The writing is obviously not what anyone would call Oscar-worthy, and the shaky cam can get a little irritating at times, but overall, it’s nothing to cry about. Contraband delivers exactly what you’d expect; an average enough story and predictable plot points. But it also offers some of the best supporting performances I’ve seen in an action pic in recent memory, and everyone can appreciate some good acting.
The Crow is a movie that, like its protagonist, managed to find a second life for itself long after its release in 1994. It continues to hold a cult status today for its dark theme and pioneering of the gritty superhero story arc, but of course it bears even more recognition as the film which resulted in the tragic death of its lead, Brandon Lee.
Much like the recent passing of Heath Ledger and The Dark Knight (Nobody saw ‘Imaginarium‘ so it doesn’t count, before you jump down my throat), The Crow stands as the final showcase of Lee’s promising talent, so it carries an almost memorial-like status for fans. It’s a delicate thing to steamroll over, but that’s just what Relativity Media are trying to do.
In April, Relativity was interested in Bradley Cooper to star, but he had to drop out for ‘scheduling reasons’ and while the studio looked at replacing him with Channing Tatum or Mark Wahlberg, the project inevitably was put on hold (hopefully to beat the casting director with a chair), as quoted here by Hollywood Reporter:
“Bradley Cooper was to have played the title character but sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that he has now exited due to scheduling conflicts. Cooper has David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook shooting this fall and then dives straight into Legendary’s Paradise Lost, which shoots first quarter next year…the exact time Relativity plans on making the high-priority Crow […] But akin to the project’s rock musician who is killed and resurrected, two new names have surfaced as possible replacements: Channing Tatum and Mark Wahlberg.”
With Cooper out and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo following suit, the production seems to be dead in the water, but we are now able to check out a slew of just-released concept art by Diego Latorre, courtesy Shock Till You Drop, which gives us a look at the general tone and direction the remake would have followed:
From Latorre himself: “‘The Crow’ images published are very early production sketches and are based in my own visual interpretation of the character and not necessarily in Apaches Entertainment and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s vision.”
For all the concept art, click here. To reminisce on the days before they tried to give The Crow cornrows, click here.
Grizzly Bomb 
